Boutique Law Firms, Litigators, Small Law Firms

The 'Looney Tunes' Rule Of Litigation

What is this rule, and how does it apply to lawyers? Columnist John Balestriere explains.

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The practical rule we follow at our firm to ensure that we are being creative and win for our clients is to follow the example of the geniuses who created the greatest cartoons ever.

The best lawyers should consider themselves craftspeople doing socially important work – even if your clients may not (or at least not always), even if your friends making “artisanal” pork buns or cucumber shakes would roll their eyes if you suggested that, even if it’s popular to mock lawyers.

We are not here to be loved or do easy work. We are here to serve and do meaningful, relevant, special work, in a profession, which takes decades to learn to do very well. And good for us that we can keep getting better at what we do: I met a 74-year-old trial lawyer the other day who looked 54, acted like he was 34, and had the energy of a 14-year-old. When done right, this job does us right.

Good lawyers should view themselves like good artists or scholars or any other creative types, focusing on doing the best work for themselves and the others on their team: devise the best argument not necessarily even for the judge or your clients, but for you and your colleagues; write the best brief for you and your colleagues; come up with the best tactical plan for you and your colleagues; bust your butt and work late when you need to and push through for you and your colleagues; and want always simply to do the best work for yourself and your team.

And this is why the Looney Tunes creators have something to teach us. However much fun you had watching my fellow Brooklyn native Bugs Bunny or Wile E. Coyote or Daffy or that crew when you were 8, it’s a lot more fun when you grow up (especially, goodness, when we’re talking about that fantastic Foghorn Leghorn). In 1998, not long before one of the creators of Looney Tunes, Chuck Jones, died in 2002, he touched on the long-running debate as to whether the Looney Tunes team geared their work towards adults or children. It turns out it was neither. Instead, Jones commented (emphasis added):

[W]e ended up where every creative person is, and that is where you paint or draw for yourself. And we figured if we made each other laugh, hopefully the audience would as well.

If we can determine what we think is truly the best work for us – for ourselves and our colleagues – we will know how to do the best work for the client, pleasing or convincing whatever audience we must for the client.

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This is not a selfish rule – none of this It’s All About Me garbage. It’s a disciplining rule. When you know that your client understandably cannot appreciate what you’re doing, and you’re concerned that your judge or arbitrator will not spend the time on your writing or argument that you would like, to ensure that you do the best job, you think of your obligation to yourself and your team to do the best you can for you and them. Figure out what that entails and you will know how to do all you can to win for the client.

As I wrote recently, you absolutely must then do the cost cross-check. Definitely apply your judgment considering all costs before advising a client how to proceed. Indeed, such cross-check (which, again, comes after you decide what the ideal course is for the client) hopefully eliminates the risk of self-indulgence in following the Looney Tunes Rule.

But – first – to win for the client and to meet your obligations, do like Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc and their colleagues: determine what you think is the best work that you and others on your team can do for you and for your team.

John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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